I was still worried. Something about that message was ominous and to suddenly have it happen not too long after the ordeal with the obelisk… that, combined with this pressure at the back of my mind… I felt something was coming for me. It was just that, a feeling, but time had told me that my intuition was something I could trust.

As much as I’d hate to admit it, I needed help, probably quickly too. I hoped and I prayed that Vyath would be able to figure something out. I still felt guilty about dragging him, Gwyn, and Cellestra into all this, but I managed to overcome the guilt quickly by thinking logically once again.

This would have happened, no matter what.

I put my hands in the elf’s hair and caressed her softly while using my legs to gather our belongings, putting everything together so that after breakfast, we could leave quickly. I took Cellestra’s bag and tried to look for a clean set of clothes seeing as I had cried so much in her current shirt that it wasn’t wearable anymore. The first thing I found was the shirt I’d made for her. She had promised to wear that earlier, but it seemed we’d both forgotten about it.

I sighed as I noticed how messy I was. My hair was tangled, had dirt in it, and was green in some places from the grass that I’d planted my head in the day before. The silken wraps around my chest weren’t spared either. I would have to replace them at some point again. It was just… I couldn’t be bothered to clean myself as I had no idea when anything like this could happen again.

What would I do if it did happen again? How did I get out of there last time?

Was it Cellestra’s voice?

I was still hugging the peacefully sleeping elf as ideas started racing through my head. One of the ideas I came up with was to teach her my healing spell. It seemed to calm her down in her dreams, maybe it would have a similar effect on me?

I guessed it couldn’t hurt to have her learn the spell either way…

The sun continued to rise but Cellestra didn’t stir yet. It made me wonder just how long she had stayed up until she’d fallen asleep. I smiled for the first time since yesterday. I closed my eyes and simply relaxed in the embrace I’d been in for so many hours, my love for the elf ever-growing.

I think I could stay like this all day…

I wished I could, but I knew we still had a way to go to get to Thymhil. The one thing we hadn’t had to worry about, fortunately, was the way there. It had been ever straightforward all the way from the temple in Edhil.

It took another hour for Cellestra to finally awaken. Not a moment too soon either as the position I was in was starting to get uncomfortable which I only realized then and there. I was, after all, bent all the way forward.

It was a good thing my pedipalps supported some of my torso. Otherwise, I was certain I would suffer for days.

“Morning, Kealyna,” Cellestra said with a yawn. “Are you doing any better?”

“I am. Thank you once again.” I slowly let go of her as I moved my torso upright again.

I wanted to ask her why she didn’t wake me up somewhere in the night but I couldn’t bring myself to do so. We were fortunate that nothing had happened while we were both out. Hopefully, that wouldn’t happen again.

“How are you?” I asked, looking at her shirt and hair as messy as my own.

“I’m doing okay. Don’t worry too much about me. You looked like you needed more help than me.”

“Yeah,” I said softly. “I had never been so scared in my life. Even when I died… it was… somewhat peaceful when my soul left my body. What happened yesterday… it scared me to the very core. I felt my actual soul in peril.”

Cellestra shook her head. “What are we going to do about it?” She asked.

“I want to try to teach you my healing spell,” I said clearly. “If the same thing as yesterday happens again, you know…?”

“I see what you mean. That sounds like a good idea.”

A loud grumble came from Cellestra’s stomach. I felt a sly smile grow on my lips as I watched the elf stare awkwardly at the ground.

“You didn’t eat anything yesterday, did you?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t.”

I grabbed the linen bag with one of my legs and laid it in front of her. I also fished out her canteen from her bag and refilled it with fresh, cold water before handing it to her.

“Thanks,” She said as she started her breakfast.

I looked around at the nearby, colorful flowers. “None of these are suitable for tea, are they?”

Cellestra shook her head. “No. They are good for shampoo, though.”

I smiled at her words. “Yeah, they do smell amazing, don’t they?”

“Yeah, they do.”

“I wish I could take a proper shower, but… it seems pointless right now. Let’s just get to Thymhil first, shall we?”

The brunette nodded. “Let’s not delay that further.”

She quickly finished her breakfast and took a small toilet break while I prepared all our belongings for travel once more. Once she came back, she stripped herself down and put on a fresh set of clothing, which included the silk shirt I’d made. I turned myself away to have everything happen behind my huge spider abdomen.

“This shirt is pretty nice,” Cellestra called out from behind me.

“Are you done?” I asked, not wanting to turn around to see her still putting on her underwear. It made me realize just how… convenient it was that this body didn’t need any underwear.

“I am.”

I turned around to see the elf wear the silken shirt with a smile on her face.

“It’s pretty warm too. I’m impressed,” She let out as she seemed to struggle a bit with the sleeves. “Way warmer than it looks at least. Think that’s due to your cold resistance?”

“If that works on my silk, then that would be quite the shocker.”

“You’re going to put people out of business this way,” Cellestra said, giggling.

“I’ll restrict myself to only making things for us… for now,” I said before stretching my neck, shoulders, arms, and even my pedipalps and massive legs. Apparently, I’d gotten sorer than I’d thought.

The elf giggled at the sight. “You should really teach me that healing spell,” She said. “Seems that sleeping like that didn't do you any good.”

I nodded as I grabbed my discarded halberd with my front limbs and handed it to my hands. “Should probably not do that again, no.” I then cast my healing light on myself but found that it had no effect on the soreness that affected me, causing me to sigh deeply. “And it doesn’t seem like healing works on it either.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Cellestra let out. “Will you be okay with travel?”

“I’ll be fine. In fact, I feel like some exercise will fix this. Are you ready?” I lowered myself to the grass while looking around to see if I was forgetting anything. The elf gathered her backpack, which was the last thing lying around, and then nodded.

“Let’s go,” She said as she stepped onto my back.

“Surprised you didn’t stop to gather some of those flowers,” I said as soon as I started running north again.

“It’s pretty pointless if we’re going to continue on until the end, before bothering to use the shampoo that I still have.”

I shook my head, smiling. “I swear, my first meeting with my parents is going to be a disaster. I can already see them saying that this is not how we raised you.”

Cellestra chuckled. “I highly doubt they’ll say that.”

“They won't, but you know… ah, it’s whatever, I guess.” I turned my head to the sky and let my mind wander off. “I’m looking forward to seeing them again, It’s been so long.”

“Soon,” Cellestra said softly. “We’ll get there soon.”

“Yeah. Let’s start working on that healing light spell in the meantime, shall we?”

The elf nodded as she already placed her hands at the sides of the back of my spider head. “Ready when you are,” She said.

The next couple of hours consisted of intense practice. Little by little did we manage to get her mana arranged in the correct way to cast the spell. I could see she struggled to replicate the spell, even with all the assistance I was able to offer.

Cellestra sighed after many, many attempts. I’d lost track completely. “This spell is hard, harder than anything you’ve taught me so far.”

“I noticed that. Your mana keeps slipping through my fingers so to say. It’s far worse than the elemental wall spells, and I don’t know if there’s a remedy in this case.”

“Maybe it’s just time,” Cellestra said, semi-desperately, but still hopeful. “The other things you’ve helped me with were not the hardest, after all. I guess it was wrong to expect everything to go as easily.”

“I hope that’s the case. We’ll continue tomorrow, okay? Just take a bit of a break for the rest of the day.”

The brunette nodded. “I hope we’ll have more success tomorrow. It seems important that I learn this as fast as possible.”

“Yes, but I don’t want to have you drop dead trying to learn it, you know?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t drop dead that easily.”

“I know.”